2003 – Only Owners think long term

I have always been intrigued by the letters sent to shareholders by both Warren Buffet and Jeff Bezos. They are inspiring and for wannabes like yours truly a source of motivation and hope. So I am creating a series of articles on what learnings I took away from the letters of Jeff Bezos. This is the seventh letter in the series.

You can check out the complete series here: https://alphonserajdavid.com/category/book-reviews/non-fiction/jeff-bezos-stakeholder-letters/

Long-term thinking comes in only when you think like an owner. If we need to grow in the long term, we need to focus on building a community of owners.

Learning #1: Don’t rent your career; Own it

Jeff says that most shareholders tend to turn over their portfolios so rapidly that they tend to rent their shares not own them.

This is quite an interesting concept. I myself have struggled a lot with instant gratification, knowing that my needs and interests are better aligned if I make the choice that doesn’t give me that immediate hit of dopamine.

So, I take a different kind of learning here. I need to have long-term thinking in my career. Not rent it out in two-year increments.

Learning #2: Exceptional customer experience is the core driver of business.

It just takes a couple of bad reviews to shut down a business. Yes, you can even run a business with loads of bad reviews for a long time. But then you can’t fool everyone all the time. Focus on providing exceptional value to your customers all the time

Learning #3: What’s good for the customer is good for the shareholder in the long run

It’s easy to say “In the long run, everyone is dead.” But focus on what’s good for the customer and we will get the shareholders exceptional wealth in a very long time.

Jeff takes the example of Product reviews here. When that feature was first introduced, most felt sales will decrease; in fact, it did. But customers were able to find good products and they kept coming back and over time spent more cash than they would have done if they had a single bad experience.

Simply put, long-term perspectives lead to sustainable long-term value creation.